DFW Healthcare Student Summit: Advancing Healthcare in 2023

We are excited to host our 3rd Annual DFW Student Summit! In this year’s summit we will explore how the healthcare industry has navigated recent turbulence as well as discuss the path ahead. There will be engaging and informative discussions related to healthcare finance, quality improvement and Analytics, and the use of technology to achieve key quality, safety, and financial outcomes.

This event is geared toward current healthcare administration students preparing to move into a healthcare career, already in a healthcare occupation and nearing graduation, or recently graduated and employed in their first healthcare position. We welcome all those who are interested in learning more about the industry.

The agenda will consist of two panel discussions and conclude with a Keynote after lunch.

Please join us on Saturday, February 18th from 8:30am – 2:30pm at the UTA Fort Worth Center, 1401 Jones St, Fort Worth, 76102.

A special thanks to the University of Texas at Arlington for hosting this event at their Fort Worth Campus!

Event Itinerary

8:30am-8:50am: Coffee, Check-in, and Registration

8:50am-9:00am: Welcome and Introduction

9:00am-10:30am: Finance Panel – Navigating the Current Financial Landscape

• Moderator – Dr. Art Gonzalez, DrPH, LFACHE - Professor of Practice and Director of MSHCAD, UTA. Panelists:
• Rick McWhorter, CFO, Texas Health Resources
• Tammy Walsh, FHFMA, CHFP, CRCR – CEO, Founder of Paramount Healthcare Solutions
• Jorge Fernandez, VP Healthcare Industry Business Development, Protiviti
• Jason Fry, Administrator, Business Sustainability & Development, Parkland Hospital

10:30am-10:50 am- Break

10:50am-12:20pm- Quality Panel – Ensuring Exceptional Care during Challenging Times

• Moderator – Dr. Cynthia St John, PhD – Professor of Practice and Assistant Director of the Healthcare Administration Program, UTA
• Joey Sudomir, MS, CHCIO - CIO, Texas Health Resources
• Angela Vincent Michael, FACHE, CPHQ, LLSBB – Director, Process Improvement at Methodist Health System
• Veronica Elliott, MSN, RN, CPHQ, LSSYB - Director, Quality Services at Methodist Southlake Medical Center
• Jazz Patterson, Founder and President of Process Village
• Quintin Ficklin Jr., MHCI, LLSYB - Health Informaticist at Methodist Health System

12:20pm-1:05pm – Lunch and Networking

1:05pm-1:50pm - Keynote

Speaker: Steve Love, President and CEO, DFW Hospital Council

2:00pm-2:30pm - Optional Networking

Speakers Bios:

Veronica Elliott is a Nursing Leader with nearly 30 years in healthcare. Her experiences include bedside nursing to administrative leadership. She has been a Healthcare Quality professional for much of the past 18 years. Currently, Ms. Elliott is the Director of Quality Services at Methodist Southlake Medical Center and is passionate about improving patient safety and health outcomes. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, with a Master’s of Science in Nursing Administration. Ms. Elliott is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality and also holds her Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Jorge Fernandez re-joined Protiviti in late January 2022. Previously Jorge represented Triage Consulting Group, a Cloudmed Company as the Senior Vice President of Business Development after serving as the Business Development Principal at Availity (Jacksonville, Florida). Jorge is a graduate from Texas A&M University where he received a BBA in Management with a focus in Marketing in 1982.

In his 38+ years of experience in revenue cycle, Jorge has worked for CHRISTUS, HCA, UHS and LifeCare as an Auditor, Accounts Receivable Analyst, Assistant Director Business Office, Business Office Director and Interim VP Revenue Cycle ranging from a 74-bed hospital to a 27 hospital/10-state healthcare system.

Quintin Ficklin, Jr., serves as is a high performing healthcare professional with ten years in the healthcare industry. In his current role as a Health Informaticist at Methodist Health System, Quintin brings an extensive background and knowledge within healthcare operations, project management, health informatics, revenue cycle, patient access, protected health information, process improvement, clinical outcomes, and data analytics.

Quintin has used his wide range skill set to lead several hospital and health system initiatives throughout his career. Mr. Ficklin founded in July 2020 the QSF Jr Success Foundation. The foundation awards two scholarships to two male graduating seniors at Mr. Ficklin’s high school alma mater in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Jason Fry, MHA, MBA is a health system administrator for Parkland Health in Dallas, as part of the Business Sustainability and Development team. He provides thought leadership and manages high-impact, innovative projects to transform the operations of a critical public safety net hospital in Dallas County. He is passionate about creating and growing sustainable, value-oriented healthcare delivery models. Prior to his current role, Jason was part of the Planning and Development team at IHA Health Services in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has held clinical roles at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he was awarded for distinguished meritorious service to the hospital.

Jason holds two degrees from the University of Texas at Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management, including a Master's in Healthcare Management and Business Administration. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Texas at Austin, where he majored in Biology. He also holds a degree in Molecular Genetics from the MD Anderson School of Health Professions.

Arthur (Art) Gonzalez, has been a healthcare executive for 49 years. He serves as Professor of Practice and Director of the Master of Science Degree in Health Care Administration Program at the University of Texas at Arlington. Retired as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a large academic Health system in Colorado, he was served as CEO of another large academic Health System in Minnesota as well.

Art is an industry leader in the use of robust process improvement, Lean, and quality improvement methods from other industries and their application in healthcare. Art earned a Doctor of Public Health degree with an emphasis in Health Services Organization and Administration from the University of Texas, School of Public Health, a Master of Science degree in Healthcare Administration from Trinity University and a Bachelor of Arts degree (Chemistry/Biology) from St. Mary’s University. He is board certified in healthcare management by the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Stephen Love is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council which promotes collaboration, cooperation and advocacy on behalf of its 90 member hospitals. The Hospital Council also has approximately 100 Associate Members (business and industry), including prominent accounting, legal and consulting firms. The primary mission is to promote patient safety, quality healthcare and coordination in the delivery of healthcare within the North Texas market. He was the United Nations Association Award Winner in 2018 for Global Goals. He served as 2015 Chair for the Conference of Metropolitan and Regional Hospitals Association in the United States. He also previously served on the Children at Risk Board for North Texas and Mothers Against Drunk Driving Dallas. He serves on the Southwest Region Board for the American Heart Association; Southwest Transplant Alliance; Cure Glaucoma Foundation Advisory Board; North Texas Eye Research Institute; the Metropolitan YMCA Board of Directors; the Board of Directors of Prism Health North Texas and the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Mr. Love has worked in healthcare management for over 40 years. He has demonstrated leadership in tax exempt, investor-owned, specialty and private hospitals in operations, finance and corporate governance. Prior to joining the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, Mr. Love was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of a Fortune 500 healthcare company that owned over 50 hospitals and managed approximately 200 facilities in the United States.

Rick McWhorter is Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Texas Health Resources. He also oversees investments and treasury services; real estate services; and supply chain management.

Over the years, Rick has provided financial oversight across the Texas Health system, as well as the development of financial processes for the Joint Operating Company hospitals of Southwestern Health Resources, Additionally, Rick represents the system as a member of the finance committee for Premier AEIX, a professional liability risk retention group with other health systems across the country.

Outside of Texas Health, he is currently serving as a member of the executive committee for Texas Wesleyan and is Texas Wesleyan's Chairman of the Finance and Audit Committee.

Rick earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Texas Wesleyan University and is a licensed certified public accountant in the State of Texas. He is a certified healthcare financial professional and fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

Angela Vincent Michael is a healthcare leader, coach and collaborator who is passionate about improving patient experience and key outcomes by engaging clinical and operational leaders on innovative process and technology changes. For over a decade, Angela has engaged healthcare cross-functional teams with a strong focus on clinical quality improvement, performance excellence, project management and clinical analytics. In her current role at a local healthcare system in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, she collaborates with leaders at all levels of the organization to advance patient care and employee engagement using the lens of improvement and analytics. Angela holds a Master’s degree in Health Finance and Management from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is an active member with the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) North Texas chapter.

Jazz Patterson is the Founder, President, and primary Master Black Belt of Process Village. He received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University in Washington, DC, a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc., and an Advanced Master Certification of Lean Six Sigma from Villanova University. His career in Lean Six Sigma began at Vought Aircraft Industries in Dallas, TX where he worked for 9 years to improve efficiency. In 2008, he transitioned to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas where he later became the Manager of the Operational and Clinical Excellence department, a group of Lean Six Sigma Black Belts to promote and grow culture of continuous improvement. Over the 21 years of his career, he has contributed to the Lean Six Sigma training and certification of more than 1,200 employees, the supervision of over 600 projects, and cost savings of more than $34 million.

Dr. Cynthia St. John is a Professor of Practice and Assistant Director of the Healthcare Administration Department, and the management department for the University of Texas at Arlington’s College of Business. She teaches leadership, team effectiveness, and quality improvement in the MBA, Executive MBA, and Healthcare Administration programs. She is an ACUE Credentialed Educator and received faculty induction into Beta Gamma Sigma, the national business honor society, based on student recommendations and course evaluations.

In addition , she provides consulting and coaching to senior leaders. She previously served as the Chief Learning Officer for Texas Health Resources, as well as held leadership roles at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and NASA.

Cynthia has volunteered hundreds of hours annually while serving as a state and national Baldrige examiner, team leader, trainer, judge, and board member over a 20-year period. She was named a lifetime Fellow by the Quality Texas Foundation for her body of work and long-term service in performance excellence.

Joey Sudomir is a multi-faceted Healthcare CIO with a proven history of delivering high-impact results via visionary strategic planning, a well-versed industry knowledge, and a broad set of operational experiences across a diverse set of Healthcare provider settings.

Serves as the CIO at Texas Health Resources where he oversees information technology activities for the entire system. He received a Bachelors in Business Administration from Texas A&M University and an MS in Information Technology from Naveen Jindal School of Management, UT Dallas.

Tammy R. Walsh is an executive finance and operations leader with 20+ years’ experience with a focus in healthcare providing cross-industry expertise in strategy, leadership, and organizational excellence. She is the founder of Paramount Healthcare Solutions which focuses on maximizing physician performance, compensation, and reimbursement for provider organizations.

Tammy is also an adjunct professor teaching courses in Leadership and Healthcare Finance to the Master of Business Administrative Healthcare Students at Texas Christian University. She serves as the Board Chair at the University of North Texas Health Science Center MHA Advisory Board. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

Host or Publisher ACHE of North Texas